have a very lewd Christmas
by Sherlocked95
Summary: Follow up to 'Those Three Words' and previous. Prompt fill for this prompt: "I'd love to see what Merlin gets for Arthur as a Christmas present and what Arthur gets for Merlin. I'd LOVE it if you could go into detail about some really thoughtful present on both sides." So here it is; Christmas, present swapping, some lewdness, plenty of fluff.


They're not spending Christmas together. Arthur thought about it and considered asking Merlin to join him at his parent's house for the day, but they both agree that as it's the first Christmas since they started their relationship a short while ago it'd be rather intimate and neither are quite ready.

So Merlin and Gaius are spending Christmas at Merlin's mother's house, with baked goods, lots of chocolate, a huge Christmas dinner, a couple of presents and the tradition of watching the Doctor Who Christmas Special together.

Arthur's going to drive the three hours down to his old family home and spend it with his parents, Morgana, his uncle and aunt and his three younger cousins. Morgana's also bringing her current boyfriend, an accountant in his forties with a fondness for fine wine. There will be a mostly pre-prepared Christmas dinner (his mother loves to cook, she's just not very good at it), an abundance of gifts, music and dancing and silly Christmas games.

He used to love Christmas day as a kid but he feels like he's outgrown most of the silly traditions his family has. He knows he'll end up texting Merlin whenever he can get away with it and Merlin will tease him for being a Christmas hating grump. He looks forward to it.

So he spends Christmas day with his family. His mother's hair is a little more grey than last time he saw her but her blue eyes are full of quiet humour as she teases his father. His dad is wearing a ridiculous reindeer jumper and already worrying about work. His uncle, aunt and cousins are as lively, loud and entertaining as ever and Morgana's boyfriend is as dull as Arthur believed he would be. Morgana herself is trussed up in a glittery dress and heels despite the casual wear of everyone else in the house and she's wearing a pair of glasses, though she's always had perfect eyesight. There's also a glass of merlot in front of her; Morgana _hates _merlot. But Jeremy, her boyfriend, has almost polished off the whole bottle, so that explains her sudden change of heart about the wine.

About halfway through Christmas dinner, the conversation inevitably turns to Arthur and his love life. He's happy to tell them all about Merlin, a soft smile on his face as he does so. His mother's smiling happily, the look of a loving mum who's watching her son fall in love, and she tells him to bring Merlin up for a visit soon. His father looks a little surprised at Arthur's choice and Arthur worries that his dad might be disappointed, but then he smiles, pats his son's shoulder and tells him that he looks forward to meeting Merlin.

Morgana's questions are spoken with the maliciousness of a sister intent on embarrassing her brother, but when she sees that he's more than happy to talk endlessly about Merlin with a fond look on his face, she quickly loses interest. Still, later that night when they're all slightly tipsy from wine and lazy from too much food, she pulls him in for a hug and tells him how glad she is to see him happy and that he'd better hold onto Merlin or else.

They play charades and board games and make themselves sick on chocolate. Arthur texts Merlin when no one is looking so they can't tell him off for his lack of attentiveness to the games and he grins at Merlin's witty replies.

He goes to sleep that night with the resolve to bring Merlin with him next Christmas. He knows his family will love him to bits.

They'd agreed to see each other on Boxing Day for a second Christmas of sorts, just the two of them, so Arthur gets up early the next morning to say goodbye to his parents and to start the drive home.

They've arranged for Merlin to come to his small cottage around noon and Arthur has just enough time to throw together a small meal using the leftovers his mum had forced on him and he nips to the corner shop to get a bottle of wine too.

When he opens the door for Merlin, the other man is all wrapped up in his pea coat and a scarf that covers half his face with his red tipped nose peeking out over the top. Arthur can't help but grin and tease him. Merlin huffs and affectionately calls him a "prat" in response as he hangs up his coat and scarf. Underneath, he's wearing dark jeans and a red cable knit jumper and Arthur wants to take him straight to bed. The look Merlin gives him tells him that he's thinking the same thing.

"Merry Christmas," Arthur smiles, taking Merlin's hands and drawing him in for a kiss.

"Merry Christmas," Merlin returns, gaze fond. "I missed you."

"Good," Arthur teases. "How was your Christmas?"

"Interesting," he answers with a wry look. "Gaius refused to speak anything other than Irish, which completely baffled poor Will. He pretends it's because he's old and gets confused, but I know he's just being mean. He doesn't like Will much – too loud and energetic. Mum overfed us with cookies and Will managed to break his wrist trying to skateboard on ice. So it was the usual, really. Perfect. How was your Christmas?"

Arthur has heard a lot of colourful tales about Will, Merlin's loyal, eccentric and loud best friend. He has yet to meet him, but he's been warned by Merlin that Will's already threatened to hurt him in vast and unimaginable ways if he doesn't treat Merlin right. He can't help but like the bloke already; he reminds him quite a lot of Gwaine.

"The usual," Arthur agrees, ushering Merlin towards the table with their meal. "Morgana brought her boyfriend with her. He's dull as a piece of cardboard but she's smitten. There was far too much chocolate and charades is awful after about ten minutes."

Merlin laughs brightly and Arthur pours them both a glass of wine. "Are you trying to get me drunk?" He smirks.

Arthur leans in, nipping at his earlobe in the way he knows Merlin likes, and smiles when the other man wriggles slightly at the touch.

"I have a Christmas present for you," Arthur tells him.

Merlin looks dismayed. "I didn't realise we were doing presents."

"Oh, well, I, er..."

"I'm joking, Arthur," Merlin's eyes sparkle. "I have one for you too."

Arthur smiles and retrieves Merlin's present from his bedroom. He'd struggled for ages to come up with the perfect Christmas present for his boyfriend. There were so many possibilities but none of them seemed perfect. And then, when he'd just about given up, he found the exact right thing.

Merlin accepts the heavy parcel and slides his thumbnail under the sellotape. He's meticulous in peeling the gaudy snowman patterned wrapping paper apart without tearing any even though they both know it'll go into the bin in a few minutes anyway. Merlin has his quirks and Arthur's somewhat used to them.

Merlin's face lights up with pure joy, his eyes widening as he strokes the soft cover of the book. It's a collection of fairytales, all translated into Irish with stunning illustrations. Arthur's left a quick note on the title page; _Merlin, Merry Christmas, you big eared idiot. I expect I'll be listening to you reading these soon. Love, Arthur. _

Merlin looks up, a huge, blinding smile on his face. "Arthur, this is...this is amazing. Thank you."

"You like it then?"

"It's perfect. _You're_ perfect." He leans across the table and pulls Arthur in for a deep kiss. Things are just getting interesting when he suddenly pulls back, chuckling at Arthur's groan. "I have one for you, remember?"

"Bed now, present later?" Arthur tries.

Merlin smirks. "What about the food?"

"We can put it in the fridge for later."

Merlin shakes his head and reaches into the large brown leather bag he carries with him everywhere. It usually holds a few books and some art utensils as well as his wallet, phone and keys; Merlin, if anything, is ever prepared. However, now he pulls out a gift wrapped in sparkly Santa themed paper.

Arthur's a lot less neat in his unwrapping, instead tearing into the paper and crumpling it into a ball. He stares at the painting for a long moment, awed into silence.

Shortly after they first spent the night together, Arthur had told Merlin about his childhood home, a beautiful cottage out in the country. He'd also told him about the German Shepherd he had as a child, Poppy, who died a few years back of old age. Merlin had asked to see a picture of both at the time and Arthur hadn't thought much of it, but now he realises why.

Merlin's painted a beautiful depiction of the cottage, every stroke of paint stunning, and when he looks closer he can see a German Shepherd that is unmistakeable as Poppy – even down to the unusual dark markings around her tail – in the garden.

It's perfect.

"Merlin," he says, stunned.

"I thought," Merlin fiddles with the sleeve of his jumper, suddenly shy. "I thought it might look good above your fireplace, or..."

"Yes," he agrees. "This is wonderful, thank you."

He can't believe the amount of thought, effort and time Merlin has put into this gift. And now he has an example of Merlin's talent to display in his home. He smiles and heads towards the fireplace to hang it up, replacing the mirror that's already there. As he turns the canvas to find the catch to hang it up, he notices a message scrawled in pencil for him on the back.

_Arthur, _

_Merry Christmas. I hope you have a wonderful one and that you like your present, you posh prat. _

_Lots of love,_

_Merlin_

There's something underneath written in Irish that Arthur knows Merlin's just put there to bug him because he can't read it, but going by the small but accurately drawn picture of a penis beside it (that he believes is a depiction of Merlin's), it's incredibly lewd.

"How romantic," he says, earning himself a smirk from Merlin.

Merlin's arms slide around him from behind and he presses a kiss to the back of his neck. "Merry Christmas, you big idiot."

Arthur smiles, linking their hands together and admiring the painting. "Merry Christmas, Merlin."

* * *

**Prompt fill for Shivani who asked for: "I'd love to see what Merlin gets for Arthur as a Christmas present and what Arthur gets for Merlin. I'd LOVE it if you could go into detail about some really thoughtful present on both sides."**

**I love Christmas and I'm very excited for it now.**

**I'm currently accepting prompts for this 'verse or anything else you'd like to see (I'm taking prompts for both Merlin and Teen Wolf) so if there's anything you'd like, feel free to leave a prompt in my askbox on tumblr, or just pop in to say hello :)**

**Tumblr: dontbeobviousmoriarty**


End file.
